Review

Author(s): Jennifer D. Selwyn

Review by: Jennifer D. Selwyn
Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), pp. 229-230
Published by: Sixteenth Century Journal
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2542596
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 Book Reviews 229

II Nuovo Mondo nella coscienza italiana e tedesca del Cinquecento. Adri-

ano Prosperi and Wolfgang Reinhard, eds. Bologna: Societa editrice il Mulino,
1992. 420 pp. Lire 46,000.

This fascinating new collection, product of a 1991 conference organized by the "Istituto
Italo-Germanico," focuses on the cultural representations of the New World in sixteenth-
century Italy and Germany. As Wolfgang Reinhard argues in his thoughtful introduction,
learned Italians and Germans were pivotal in the intellectual exploration of"new worlds" in
the sixteenth century as a result of the influence of humanist scholarship and the vitality of
the publishing industries in both countries. Adriano Prosperi notes in the conclusion that
Italians and Germans were in a unique position to assimilate the "novelty" of the New World
to pre-existing cultural and intellectual frameworks precisely because they were not directly
involved in the political and economic conquest of the Americas.
Two widely focused essays by Marica Milanesi and CorradoVivanti consider the broader
European dimensions of the challenge presented to geography and humanism by the New
World discoveries, emphasizing both the fluidity of scholarship in this period and the grad-
ualness with which ancient/medieval conceptual frameworks were replaced.
The balance of this volume deals equally with the Italian and German contexts. These
papers fall into two rough categories: those which describe the genres through which New
World discourse was produced in Italy and Germany and those which use the New World as
a backdrop to wider discussions of change and continuity in early modern Italy and Ger-
many. The best of these genre-driven studies are invaluable for their wealth of primary
sources, attention to publishing practices and prerogatives, and the useful syntheses which
they provide.
Massimo Donattini's study of the geographical horizons of the Italian publishing trade
provides a wealth of information on the explosion of interest in "new worlds" in the six-
teenth century; not only (or especially) in the Americas, but also in the East.'His census of
eighty-seven works primarily devoted to the Americas seeks to identify the "sensibility" of
the Italian readership.
In a similar vein, Renate Pieper studies the "Fuggerzeitungen," travel reports assembled
by two of the heirs to the Augsburg banking dynasty. Pieper considers the content of these
reports on international commerce, how they reached Augsburg, and their reception by
German merchants, intellectuals, and princely courts.
The richest essays in this volume, however, consider the specific challenges of the New
World encounter to Italian religious and scientific consciousness. Carla Forti's investigation
of the Italian reception of the Spanish debate on "just war" in the New World exposes the
complex relationship between Italian perceptions of Spanish imperial policy and debates
around ecclesiastical and secular authority. She carefully analyzes the ways in which Italian
scholars and church figures adapted Spanish arguments to domestic concerns.
Equally incisive is Girolamo Imbruglia's discussion of Jesuit missionaries'"ideals of civili-
zation" in the sixteenth century. Imbruglia notes that much Jesuit missionary work in this
period was in the East Indies. He uses the novelty of the Jesuit missionary consciousness to
explore the creation of a "new religious man." Like Forti, Imbruglia's close readings of pri-
mary sources (in this case, letters from Jesuits requesting placement in foreign missions)
enrich his analysis of changing ideas of religious vocation.
The encounter with the Americas also challenged the interests and methodologies of
early modern naturalists. Giuseppe Olmi masterfully unravels this relationship in his contri-
bution on Italian naturalists in the sixteenth century. Following up on suggestions by Mi-

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230 Sixteenth Century Journal XXV / 1 (1994)

lanesi andVivanti that sixteenth-century scholars had a difficult time integrating challenging
new data into their conceptual framework, Olmi looks at the specific political and cultural
obstacles which Italian naturalists like Ulisse Aldrovandi faced. He argues that Aldrovandi and
others struggled to obtain natural specimens from the New World, but as Italians, could not
organize independent scientific expeditions to the Americas. Olmi vividly describes Aldro-
vandi's attempts to use Spanish patronage networks to gain access to natural objects. Beyond
their political difficulties, naturalists like Aldrovandi had trouble assimilating New World flora
and fauna into an "emblematic world view" which made sense of natural phenomena
through symbolic associations.
In his conclusion, Prosperi argues that the historiography of the New World encounter
itself offers a revealing view of the changing nature of European identity. Just as in the last
century, the centenary celebration of Columbus'"discovery" of the Americas provided a ve-
hicle for celebrations of European nationalism, so today scholars are seeking to shift the focus
from a discussion of"winners" and "losers" to a more fruitful analysis of the complex rela-
tionships which the encounter engendered.This collection makes a valuable contribution to
that project.

Jennifer D. Selwyn ................................University of California, Davis

The Renaissance of the Goths in Sixteenth Century Sweden. Kurt Johan-

nesson. James Larson, trans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Original Publication 1982. xxi + 282 pp. n.p.

An historical axiom is the saying that history is usually written by its winners. This
volume by Johannesson is an analysis of the works of two losers who were nominated to be
archbishops of Uppsala but who never occupied their episcopal office because of the inroads
of the Lutheran Reformation in Sweden.They were the brothers Johannes (1488-1544) and
Olaus (1490-1557) Magnus who lived most of their lives in exile in Danzig and Rome.
During the fifteenth century, Sweden had erupted in a series of revolutions against the
Kalmar Union which had given political control of Sweden to Denmark. In 1520 after the
infamous "Stockholm Bloodbath," GustavVasa led a successful rebellion and was crowned
king of Sweden in 1523. Implicated in the Stockholm Bloodbath besides the Danish king
was the archbishop of Uppsala, Gustav Trolle.When the new Swedish king inquired in 1524
regarding some reforms in the Swedish Church, the Roman pontiff insisted that Gustav
Trolle be reinstated as the archbishop of Uppsala. Patriotic Swedes would have none of this
and despised Trolle for his alleged role in the Stockholm Bloodbath. Besides, Trolle was a
Dane. Thus it was that Johannes Magnus, whom GustavVasa had nominated and the canons
of Uppsala had approved to be the new archbishop of Uppsala, was only appointed as admin-
istrator of the archdiocese by Pope ClementVII. In 1533 the next pope consecratedJohannes
Magnus as archbishop but it was too late. Sweden had slipped into Lutheranism by that time
and Laurentius Petri was already serving as the first Lutheran archbishop of Uppsala.When
Johannes died in exile (1544), his younger brother was named as his successor but he too
never occupied his episcopal office.
Both of the Magnus brothers were renowned scholars who had received the finest renais-
sance education possible. Both were also ardent Swedish patriots who served the new Swed-
ish king loyally and faithfully. But when he veered toward Lutheranism, they broke company
with the king much to the detriment of their own future careers and were forced into exile.
The renaissance of the Goths in sixteenth-century Sweden derives from Johannes Mag-
nus' popularization of a medieval myth regarding the alleged origin of the Swedes from their

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